Westerham Restaurant Guide

A “very busy and popular pub just off the A21 outside Sevenoaks”, and occupying a characterful 16th-century building that boasts beams and wonky floors – as well as having a pleasant outdoor space for warmer months. Add in some solid seasonal gastro food (they do a slap-up Sunday lunch) and it’s “lots of fun” to visit.

2023 Review: This “lovely” mid-Victorian boozer (believed to be the only ‘Haycutter’ in the country) earns solid ratings for its “good old-fashioned pub grub” and “brilliant” all-round performance. It is now part of the Brunning & Price group.

2022 Review: The French cuisine may not be cutting-edge, but it is both consistent and highly accomplished at this ten-year-old restaurant with rooms in north Surrey. Chef owners Laurent Pacaud and Martin Bradley ran the business as a catering company for ten years before that.

Andrew McLeish’s longtime beacon on London’s south-east fringe receives nothing but plaudits for its “imaginative” and “excellent quality” field-to-fork dining (an ethos reflected in the restaurant’s rooftop beehives), with its loyal army of local fans saying it’s a “very special place that easily beats most high-end offers in Central London”. Even those who have “been using Chapter One for special occasions for over 20 years” don’t get bored since “the menu is changed weekly” to keep things fresh; there’s also a more informal brasserie menu and “the addition of the conservatory bistro is a must for the summer”.

“Cannot be beaten!” – so says the very dedicated local fan club of Victor Choi’s long-established Cantonese fixture on the high street, known locally as a top option for a celebration.

“Extraordinary fresh battered cod and haddock and superb chips” are “savoured” at this “attentive and friendly” traditional chippy on the outskirts of Croydon that’s “still going strong after so many years”. Even a diner who feels “the area’s not the best and the restaurant looks a bit tired” says “the food’s great! – and they always take walk-ins”.

“Good-quality food and friendly service” at this village pub, which was rescued in a rundown state by entrepreneur Sir Keith Mills and his wife Maureen a dozen years ago, and is run by well-known chef brothers Chris & James Tanner. “It’s great for families – you can watch the chefs at work in front of you!”.

“When you want a hipster burger dripping in your beard, this place delivers!” – Scott Collins’s “buzzy, vibey” joints are notorious for their “really good dirty burgers” with memorable names (the ‘Dead Hippie’ and its veggie cousin the ‘Tempeh Tantrum’), plus “excellent buffalo wings with blue-cheese sauce”. In early 2025 he opened spinoff venture BLOODsports in a Covent Garden basement (see also), showing live sports and horror films on large-screen TVs.

This smart neighbourhood restaurant and bar from Stuart Gillies, for many years Gordon Ramsay’s right-hand man, “never lets you down with quality, value or service – can’t get enough of this place”. The menu offers a mixture of classic British and modern European cuisine, with bottomless brunch on Saturdays and traditional roast on Sundays. There’s now a sibling restaurant on similar lines, Number Eight in Sevenoaks.

2024 Review: This suburban subcontinental offers an unusual take on Indian street food, having been set up by three brothers keen to pay homage to their grandmother’s cooking, inflected by her travels in Africa and Saudi Arabia; its “authentic” recipes attract nothing but positive reports.

This Arts & Crafts boutique hotel at the edge of Rusthall Common woods makes a “lovely setting” for a meal from chef Scott Goss, who trained under Gary Rhodes, served in a dining room with original stained-glass windows and wood-panelled fireplace. “Sunday lunches on the terrace are a summer treat” with “amazing views” over Happy Valley, and it’s “very popular for weddings”.

“My wife took me here for a “date lunch”… it was superb” – Richard Phillips’s well-known destination occupies an attractive and central Regency Villa and is “excellent for a special occasion” for which it provides “formal dining in the traditional manner with unusual nibbles and interesting flavours” and a high quality selection of wines. There is a luxurious à la carte menu (with mains around £40 each) or a seven course tasting menu for £95 per person. Top Tips – something of a favourite for business lunching hereabouts, they provide a lunch menu with two courses for £28 per person; “lovely terrace for outdoor dining in summer”.

2024 Review: This “lovely food-led pub” – a carefully modernised beauty from 1854 on Crystal Palace’s thriving ‘Triangle’ – showcases chef David Yorkiston’s “really great cooking – way, way above typical gastroboozer fare”. “Controversially, it has banned kids under 10” but not everyone objects (“we think the atmosphere is all the better for it, even if it means we can’t go there as often as we’d like)”.

2023 Review: “Always fresh sourdough pizza” has helped build a strong local following for this hip southeast London group, with outlets in Crystal Palace, Nunhead, West Norwood, Herne Hill and Elephant & Castle. A new natural wine selection from specialist importer Les Caves de Pyrène is now available alongside the craft beers on tap. Top Tip – “make sure you leave room for the ice cream”.

2023 Review: A welcome 2021 relaunch after being closed for years – this roadhouse on the South Circular between Sydenham and Catford serves “generous” dishes that “elevate it beyond pub grub, but without pretending to be a gastropub”. The food comes courtesy of Jamie Younger, who runs Peckham’s Begging Bowl and was formerly at the Palmerston in East Dulwich; his “smoked and slow-cooked options are a triumph (red chicken, short ribs)”. The “huge outdoor areas” make “weekend lunch en famille with toddlers a jolly affair” – a market sector enticed by a discount club for parents with young kids.

2023 Review: A “family favourite” for its “lovely atmosphere and brasserie food” – and handily close to Tunbridge Wells station – this spin-off from the ever-expanding Ivy operation is well regarded by most reporters, but also suffers from the complaints commonly levelled against its Identikit siblings: most especially indifferent cooking that’s “poor value for money”.